An expansion of Canton’s already-massive IKEA store has begun, with company officials predicting the 44,000-square-foot addition should open next summer and potentially create new jobs.

“New job opportunities will exist as the business needs arise, as is always the case,” company spokesman Joseph Roth said. “Long term, this project should result in more positions as sales continue to increase.”

Construction crews have started building the addition to the west side of IKEA at Ford and Haggerty roads, a project adding nearly 15 percent more space to the 311,000-square-foot home furnishings store.

Extended area

IKEA Canton manager Matt Hunsicker has said the store’s success since opening in 2006 has ramped up efforts to extend the self-service furniture area “so it can hold more products and improve our customer shopping experience.”

Roth said exterior construction should be complete by spring, with the new section opening next summer on a site where IKEA demolished the former ABC Warehouse store, which moved to the Ford-Morton Taylor intersection.

Roth said the “primary purpose” of the expansion is to create more space and increase availability of the company’s products. Canton is home to Michigan’s only IKEA store and draws customers from neighboring states and Canada.

Roth declined to say how much of an investment the IKEA expansion means for the store, which has some 300 employees.

“As a privately held company,” he said, “IKEA does not discuss finances publicly.”

Growth plan

The area being expanded includes space where shoppers collect flat-packed furniture to take home to assemble. The project also includes rearranging the customer service section and improving the home-delivery area.

IKEA’s plans came with a $250,000 gift as Canton inches toward improving traffic-snarled Ford Road. Long term, the Michigan Department of Transportation has said the stretch of Ford Road in Canton, which has some of the state’s highest-crash intersections, could potentially be transformed into a boulevard.

Roth, meanwhile, has said IKEA’s plans to expand the Canton store is an indication it will remain the company’s only Michigan store for the foreseeable future, calling it “a great location and a great community.”

In other development across the street, Canton Marriott Hotels has confirmed it plans to build two new four-story hotels northeast of the Ford-Haggerty intersection after demolishing the aging America’s Best Value Inn & Suites.

Officials say the new hotels, with a combined 178 rooms, could open by late next year. Mike Abdulnoor, regional manager for A&M Hospitality, has said the new hotels will complement two others already on the site.